Scent of a memory
by bandykullan
Summary: Based on a prompt at LJ.  What's the weirdest thing Neal and Mozzie ever allegedly stole? . Memories and feelings can be triggered by a lot of things, smells for example. Neals finds this out at a lunch with El and Peter


**A Scent of Memory**

"El is organizing and event in the botanical garden and asked me to meet her there for lunch, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you joined us," Peter said with a cheerful tone in his voice. It was Friday, the weather was warm for April, and more importantly they had wrapped up their last case, which meant that for once he could look forward to a relaxing weekend. Andwhy not start the weekend with a late lunch with El?

"I don't think so."

Neal's hesitation came as a surprise to Peter. Neal never said no to a chance to get away from the drab food in the FBI building, and the botanical gardens were outside of his radius. On a normal day he jumped at any chance of getting away from central New York.

"Come on, I will even buy you lunch, and I know that you don't have hay fever."

Peter could see that Neal was torn, but in the end decided to go with Peter. They met El at the entrance so that she could help them get inside without having to pay the entrance fee. They started to stroll towards the café close to the central dam, talking about what had happened during the week and their plans for the weekend. The closest way would have been to take a short cut through the rainforest greenhouse. Before they had a chance of entering the large glass building Neal pulled El aside towards the tulip flowerbeds on the outside and started talking about the Dutch tulip bubble and its importance to 17th century art. It wasn't uncommon for Neal to talk about art, but the sudden change of subject in the conversation they had had was. Peter put it up on his mental list of strange behaviors from Neal. The list had gotten a lot longer since he had gotten to know Neal in person, instead of just chasing after him.

When they sat down at the café Peter ordered a BLT on rye bread, El decided on a chicken salad, but despite Peter paying Neal simply said that he wasn't hungry and sat down with a cup of coffee. Neal fought hard to try and seem his normal self, but both Peter and El could see that he was not comfortable. Instead of taking part in any conversation, he simply answered in monosyllables when either of them asked him direct questions. After having finishing their lunch El needed to get back to work, but she still followed Neal and Peter to the main entrance. Being busy planning an event meant that she didn't have much time to just enjoy the wonderful surroundings. When they once again passed the greenhouse the door was opened and the wonderful scents of vanilla and heavy orchids drifted out.

"Ahhh," El exhaled. "I love all these scents, I would love to visit a real rainforest one day," she continued with a dreamy look in her eyes. Neal apparently didn't share her view.

"Sorry, I just can't, I need to..." El and Peter saw his thin frame rush towards the public bathrooms.

He returned a few moments later, his face pale and sweaty.

"I'm fine," he tried to convince them with one of his usual smiles, but the smile was only a faint copy of the ones that had made it possible for Neal to con his way through the world. "It must have been something bad I had for breakfast".

A few months earlier Peter might have believed him, but he knew Neal well enough now to know when he tried to hide something.

"Want to tell me what's up?" he asked, when they sat in the car, driving back to Neal's place. "We had breakfast together and I feel fine. You hesitated as soon as I mentioned the botanical gardens and you clearly didn't want us to go near that greenhouse, why?"

"Don't tell me you couldn't feel that smell of the titan arum in there?" Neal said with a slightly strained voice

"The titan arms what?"

"The titan arum is the world's largest flower, it can be more than 10 feet high, and they have a blooming specimen there right now. It's big, it's red and it smells like rotten flesh, I just can't stand it."

"Let me guess," Peter asked with a glint in his eyes. "The world's largest flower also means that it's very rare, and quite expensive."

"Might be, to the right collector, and if it's in bloom. It only blooms a couple of days at a time, and even if you look all over the world there is usually not more than one cultured flower blooming in one year," Neal answered innocently.

"You know, I think I remember a case a few years back. A private gardener complained that someone had stolen his exotic plant. He claimed that the thief had broken in, spent the whole night digging up his precious flower and then got away in an air balloon. The guy handling the case thought he was crazy, especially when he claimed that we should be able to trace the thief by the scent. I simply assumed it was some kind of rose or tulip he was talking about, you wouldn't happen to know anything about this?"

The only answer Peter got was a mischievous smile, but that was the only answer he needed. Of course, Peter thought for himself, Neal wouldn't have been able to resist something as unique as the world's rarest flower, no matter how it was shaped or smelled.

The rest of the way back Neal sat looking out the windows of the taurus, his fingers folding a strip of paper. This lunch sure had brought back memories, even if being strapped to a smelly, sticky, red monster of a plant while soaring over the countryside maybe hadn't been the most enjoyable experience. Still as far as he knew nobody else had ever managed to steal a titan arum in full bloom, and deliver it still flowering. The stench had still been there almost a week later though, no matter how many showers he took. It still was enough to upset his stomach. He had stayed over at Mozzie's place until the smell had gone, not wanting to force Kate to put up with it. After all it had been Mozzie who had come up with the idea of how to transport 40 lb of stinking flower. Airlifting it over a brick wall and delivering it straight to its new home in a private garden in the Hamptons had been an elegant solution, worthy of both Neal and Mozzie. The pay for the job had been enough to be worth a couple of ruined sheets and bath towels. Yes, it had even been worth putting up with Mozzie's conspiracy theories for a week.

When Peter pulled up outside June's door, Neal had even started to hum for himself. It was a sure sign that he seemed to be back to his normal and annoyingly cheerful self.

"I'm hungry now. I'll run down to the French café on the corner and get something to eat. Have a nice weekend, enjoy the game and see you on Monday"

He shut the door with a bang and Peter could see that something was left on the seat where Neal had been just moments earlier. It was an origami creation, resembling a pleated cone with something that looked like a cob of corn sticking out of it.

Being made from paper, it thankfully didn't smell.


End file.
